I spent the first 10 minutes thinking I had accidentally downloaded a Furry version of Vision of Escaflowne or El Hazard. What is this world? This is not ThunderCats, by Thundera!

Welcome to Agrabah. City of mystery, of enchantment.

The citizens of Thundera are complety ignorant of all things, “technology”. Seriously, guys? The whole reason the original ThunderCats were alive when their SPACESHIP crash landed on a distant planet was because they were in SUSPENDED ANIMATION..

Also, for some reason (and this is what irked me the most, honestly) Tigra is Lion-O’s older brother (their father is a Lion, in case you were wondering) but it’s Lion-O who is the crown prince. How does that even happen? Is Tigra a bastard? Was he adopted? Should he be renamed Ligra? Tigra’s also a lot less ghei in the new series, boo. I liked that he was kinda sexually ambiguous before. Oh, was that just me?

Bromance

I also can’t get over just how anime everything looks. Haha.

On to the good:

It takes getting used to, but it’s actually very well done. The design of the castles, the buildings are gorgeous. The animation is fluid, although the incorporation of CGI with the 2D stuff isn’t as smooth as it could be..

I am also a little relieved that nobody looks like wrestling rejects anymore. No one’s in speedo’s yay! The costumes don’t look as bad as I originally thought they did in the teasers, but Panthro still looks too much like Jet from Cowboy Bebop.

Overall, it’s a pretty solid production with a very promising story. I just don’t understand why it had to be a ThunderCat remake. You could replace all the ‘Cats with original characters and still have the beginnings of a great animated series.

I will admit, I got chills the first time Lion-O did the whole, “ThunderCats, HOOOOOOO!” bit.

Thunder, thunder, thunder, ThunderCats! Kamehameha!

So yeah, maybe I will tune in for next episode. For, you know, Science.

The storyline of the new series was explained this way: “A sweeping tale combining swords and science and boasting ferocious battles with the highest of stakes, the grand origin story of Prince Lion-O’s ascension to the throne — and of those who would thwart his destiny at any cost — takes on epic dimensions in this sharp new telling. As the forces of good and evil battle each other in the quest for the fabled Stones of Power, Lion-O and his champions learn valuable lessons of loyalty, honor and mortality in every episode.” (source)

I had been hearing rumors of a ThunderCats reboot for a while now, but I didn’t think they’d actually go through with it. According to the source above, Warner Brothers officially announced it last June and is slated to be their first, “anime series.”

The main problem I have with remakes is the way they’re just filled with over-the-top badassery that kind of takes the fun out of it. I like my 80’s cartoons to be campy and corny. And to abuse the flip frame. And to have power ballad theme songs.

Maybe the reboot won’t be so bad. Maybe. Until then, I got my eye on you, creepy-anime-looking-ThunderCat-remake, you.